Saturday, March 08, 2008

Bring the level up

Sigh...looks like I used up pretty much all of my Melodifestival luck last week! I can't complain too much, given who made it last week, but boy, would have been nice if we could have had...well, more later!

Edit: it's difficult for me to comment too much on how well people sang due to some background noise during many of the performances (seriously, what are you doing washing dishes and frying stuff during Melodifestivalen?! Don't you realize what this is?). Songwise, though, Ola's was always my favorite out of this group, and it looked like he gave a great performance. Having it go through really would have completely made my Melodifestival year, so, though I'd prepared myself for Sibel winning even if Ola made it past his first heat, it was still a real disappointment to me to see him not make it.

As it turned out, in terms of what I wanted, the first two head-to-heads had good results, with Sibel beating E-Type/The Poodles and Ola beating Caracola (though as I'd said, Ola vs. Caracola was a tough one for me--I mean, I definitely preferred Ola, but I liked Caracola's song a lot too), but after that everything fell apart. Androla lost to Nordman and Terran lost to Suzzie. Sibel then beat Ola and--well, I'm not really sure who I would've wanted to see win in the Nordman vs. Suzzie matchup, but either way I wasn't going to be particularly excited about the result. Nordman won out in the end (I do give them credit for switching up the performance/camera shots used, though; before, the "witch burning" felt really anticlimatic, while tonight it was much more emphasized).

I may have more thoughts tomorrow.

Edit again: what what? I didn't realize all the songs, those still in the competition and those out of it, would be for sale after tonight (edit: or that they'd be for sale in digital music stores besides Telia)--oh, to have a Swedish credit card...I don't think it's all set up perfectly at the moment, though, unless they really mean to charge 79 kr for "Hur Svårt Kan Det Va?"--I mean, it's a great track and all that, but that's probably not right. Update: it's been fixed and is now going for the bargain basement price of 1 kr.

Was Carola's singing bad? I couldn't properly hear during that part, but I just got the sense she was trying to/had been told to tone down her singing and ad libs...which I kind of think backfired, because "One Love" ended up feeling like it had less energy that way.

Poor Therese :( Someone I was watching with wasn't surprised at all, though--said the other entry was much more "typically Swedish." I kind of see that point, even if it's not entirely clear--"When You Need Me" maybe isn't the easiest song for people (in general) to get swept up by. I don't know...

No matter what year it is, no matter how good (or bad) the songs are, the fact remains that Melodifestivalen.Is.Fantastic. What a show. And even if your favourite songs don't qualify/win, it's still a wonderful event.

Sad that Ola didn't make it to Globen, but well done to Sibel and (particularly) Nordman although I don't think either of them will present a serious challenge to Charlotte who is going all the way to Belgrade.

E-Poodles vs Sibel - I knew for sure Sibel would win. That song was probably too scary for the 7 million non-city dwellers. Even if I coullllllddddddddddddddddddd...

Ola vs Caracola - My friend and I were split as to who would win. The gays all picked Caracola, because 3 women doing the same choreography is just overwhelmingly appealing. The 2 straight people watching with me thought Ola's song was slicker. Straights win. I prefer Ola anyday.

And-rola vs Nordman. The correct result, and more for political reasons. Watcing it last night, I thought that if Andreas duetted with someone else with some gravitas (like Linda B. if she wasn't solo this year, Lena Philippson etc) this song would have really been biting at Charlotte's heels and could have easily won. But Carola carries to much baggage - the gays hate her because of her homophobic views, some people find her evangelical side very creepy, and did she really need to compete this year? She's already been involved with MF 5 times. Give some other people a chance. And I thought she was losing her voice.

Therese vs Suzzie. A shock - Suzzie tapper looked like she was on some quaaludes throught.

I am happy Nordman got through - the song is a grower. Sibel is decent enough but Ola's song is far more exciting (plus he's adorable)

Europecrazy, you're right--the effort put into it is really top quality.

Ha ha--I was talking about noise from where I was, but you know, I wouldn't be surprised if we'd heard some of that too!

Rick, I love your commentaries! Nordman's song is definitely a grower and is starting to make sense to me--I still think at the moment I prefer "One Love" at a song, but there's no denying that there is, as you say, "baggage" that comes with Carola. That fact was always really going to hurt her in a knockout format like this, where it's not just "vote for your favorite" (like you have to do when there are 8 acts) but also lets you basically vote against an act. Sibel's song is really growing on me, but unfortunately for "That Is Where I'll Go" it's always been pitted against songs that I rank highly, which has kind of forced me to take a negative outlook on it.

Among my friends I'm the only one to like Sibel - it meant 'fag break' when she appeared twice on Saturday. There is something so simple about the song and it was so brilliantly staged I got caught up in it. Watch at the beginning how she walks into the light, then the wind coming at the right moment - it's been done a thousand times before but it still works in this case.

I hope Carola thinks again before coming back. She should have stayed with EVIGHET as her final glory. But NO.

What am I going to talk about after Saturday's final?!?!!! I need some anti-psychotic drugs to help me calm down...

It really is fantastically staged. When I first heard she'd be doing the whole standing-alone-on-stage thing, I just thought "too bad Sanna's already done that earlier (and she didn't even need hidden backing singers)!", but that's not what I think when I watch it now. It doesn't hurt that for some reason I love the "and nothing short of my forever/and yours is what I ask" and "I don't have much to offer/just body, mind, and soul" either.

Good point, Jaker, but I can definitely understand where Rick's coming from--I've been thinking the same thing! Not only will we pretty much have all the Eurovision entries chosen very soon, I really think it's going to end up being a much better Melodifestival year than Eurovision year. I'm hoping we get enough Melodifestival artist albums in the next few months to help me slowly come down.

About Me

Songs are posted only for promotional purposes (I love them and want others to know about them, too)--if you like them, please "go out and buy the record"! If you are an artist, represent one, or are a songwriter/producer and would like your songs removed, I'll gladly do so (just let me know).